
Class ^EaJ?iL Id. 



Book, .j LzxOk 
Gopyiight N°_ J1A^_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



"■"-imiMT'" "I"*"- 



THE OLD HEMLOCK 

AND OTHER SYMBOLS 



A 


liUj BY 


BOOK it 


jK^ WILLIAM 


^^ iJ 


1^ NORMAN 


VERSE ill 


W^ GUTHRIE 



'- ,"• 'J • 



CINCINNATI 

THE ROBERT CLARKE COMPANY 

J902 



■»■ n,»11 l I I I I iiM 

' -TO'-- ; !nwAr?Y -^f 

CLjOi^S Ct XXa No. 



GOV 



i 

m in I iiii> 



Copyright, J90J 

fay 

"William Norman Guthrie 







Press of 

The Robert Clarke Company 

Cincinnati 



Dedicatory Foreword 

The rhythmist in verse has no system of noting patises that do not 
chance to coincide with syntactical sentence-divisions; no legitimate method 
of indicating peculiar stress, btit the capital letter. Therefore, in printing 
this little book the old classic use is had recourse to; that is to say, the 
capital is restricted to its prose function of working a fresh start in the flow 
of words, a vocative noun or pronoun, a personification, a burst of feeling. 
Again, the alineation in the first five pieces indicates always a slight pause, 
not a drop of the voice. 

This soKcitousness for a right reading is a verse-maker's plain duty. 
The first five pieces are wrought out in rhythms apparently lawless, in 
truth most subtly bound by a technique which needs no setting forth in a 
foreword as the trained ear is the final judge, provided only the living voice, 
not the superficial eye, be the interpretater for the ear. Only by reading 
aloud will the characteristic theme adopted in each piece be identified, and 
pleasure taken in the departures therefrom and unforseen returns thereto 
thro* mazy variation* That these symbol-poems are specimens of a new 
poetic genre is not true, Leopardi's noble ** Ginestra *' allowed the poet, 
however, long digressions from the chosen subject (the broom-plant flourish- 
ing on volcanic debris) for direct comment on man's destiny. In these 
symbol-poems every descriptive touch doing more or less double duty, such 



Dedicatoiy Foreword 

extensive digressions would amount to tautology. The genre was dis- 
covered not by critical literary study, but by a series of experiments— 
gropings after a form descriptive, dramatic and lyric at one and the same 
time. Yet how much unconscious influence was exerted by Leopardi, 
Heine and Goethe, I could not say. Let the reader take tiiis collection as 
a test of imaginative life in the writer, and as a token of respect for him — 
the fact, namely, that the writer has ventured to do his best even at the 
mortal risk of so-called ** obscurity.'* 

In conclusion, the reader's thanks for whatever in the book's appear- 
ance may delight his eye is due the sympathetic quick pen and modest 
taste of Mr, J. H. Gest, and the writer may claim his ancient, honorable 
privilege of inscribing the name of some particular reader — that in this 
case, of 

MRS. MARY MUHLENBERG EMERY, 

as an expression of esteem and regard, with very best holiday wishes, 

W. N. GUTHRIE. 
Fern Bank, O. 




Table of Contents 
Symbolic Odes 

The Old Hemlock 7 

The Rime of the Tarn J3 

The Defiled Mountain Torrent - - - - 26 

TheMtde 39 

Afterword -------42 

Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

The Beeches of Fern Bank - - - ' - 43 

Palmistry -------44 

Dirge --------45 

Ode in Sapphics ------ 46 

To a Latterday Prophet - - - - - - 47 

To Souls Among the Stars - - - - 48 

After Tears - - - - - - -49 

A Respite -------50 

Sympathetic Mtjsic - - - - - - 50 

A February Day in Tennessee - - - - 52 

The Firefly 53 

The Hawk 54 

Dream and Waking - - - - - - 57 

Nocturne - - - - -- -62 

Autumn Sadness - - - - - - 63 

Frost-Work 64 

Impromptu - 65 





The Old Hemlock 

TOUT-HEARTED, great Hemlock, wast Thotf 
foolhardy to plant thee on crags thtis, 
waterworn, naked — 

tusks of some monstrous 

jaw from the deep tarn jutting \ — 

no soil save mould 

of thine own shed spines, 

amassed in the snaky 

folds of thy huge 

roots that, steadfast to clamp thee, 

the splintering rock 

enwrap* So soon as I saw, uncouth 

black Giant, I loved thee ; and oft 

couched me solitary 

dream-whispers to overhear 

of thy stalwart soul — ^but in vain* 

Dragon-flies quick, emerald-glinting, 

through swarms iridescent of dance-whirled gnats, 

darted ; or, sparkles of turkis fire, 

settled gauze-winged on the moist stone a moment 

in a fleck of sunny 

sheen. From the dense 

7 



Symbolic Odes 

laurcl-tfaicket the titmouse 

furtively flitted, seeking the green 

gloom of thy shade, perched him to pipe 

twitter and trill tenderly soft 

songs of thy praise, meant for no ear 

but thine I Or, perchance, as I waited 

unseen, the fox-squirrels 

inquisitive, miscfuevous, sprightly, 

peered from their holes, cheeped, chirrupped, 

fretted, flurried, whisked-up their tails, 

flirted from bough-end to bough-end, 

scampering, scolding, scurrying, 

in a dare-devil game of catch. But ever, 

though affably tolerant, nay 

gracious, Thou stoodest, thy spirit 

methinks abode far 

alone, aloof, aloft, 

rapt in the beauty stern 

inexorable, everlasting, true 

of the positive world; thy bliss 

too real, intense for frivolous 

dance, frolic and song, or worship devout 

in irreverent foolish words. 

Stark gnarly branches 
spotted with lichen hoar, and shag- 
bearded, already thy spirelike 
symmetry mar j but old age, 
fondly of the past reminiscent, 
dotingly garrulous, yet 
for many a year 

will not touch thy spirit ; then Oh, 
of friendship wilt not Thou 

8 



Symbolic Odes 



tell one who loveth thee, 

whether, when at first from a cleft 

in thy rock (than the cool 

mosses that slipper thy feet, scarce 

bolder of growth) thou didst peep 

curiously skyward ; and after, 

when the froward chokeberry btjshes 

that jostled and pressed thee 

proudly thou couldst 

overpeer at length and outreach ; 

Whether, dear Tree, 

in the drowsy noon-sun thou never, 

didst day-dream, foolishly day-dream 

of stretching, a benison mute, 

thy hundred long-sleeved 

arms patriarchal, solemn, 

over the tarn as now — 

warden august of its peace ? 

For, irresistibly hither 

happy day-dreamers are drawn 

(lovers, and indolent youths robust,) 

to sit them dow^n and muse, 

in fancied fellowship close v/ith thee, 

of possible things that w^ill not, 

of things impossible 

that must come surely to pass, 

Howbeit, — taciturn Sage, 
noble, austere, — 
the subtle fragrance inspiring 
of thy forest-breath sweet, 
do not deep impulses stir in us 
strangely, disrupting the arid 



Symbolic Odes 



Cf ust of otjf wof k-a-day self ? f esoltttions 
spontaneously well tip, abundant and pure, 
to refresfi it and deck it with verdure 
of hope? and trust (like thine own, 
sublime) — in the universe, soar 
overhead — a vast sky? our life-love, 
ardent, out of darkness and cold 
burst ablate — 
sunlike its a^ure 

ascending? and our baser desires shoot 
upward till, scintillant points, 
they dartle on our dark 
hours of bewilderment 
spiritual rays 

heavenly impersonal, starry remote ? For lo I 
a Symbol, a Glyph of a lore 
Thou art, which our spirit 
unwittingly spells : — how Might 
Self-lordship, Soul-greatness, 
are got of a w^ilful stand, 
reckless, unshaken, 
in hard barren places ; are got 
of savage w^ar w^aged — 
brute man with stubborn things 
and forces undying and tireless — overcome 
to renew, fierce, treacherous, 
cruel, the strife ; are got 
of uprearing sore-battered 
a crest, defiant to blast 
and bolt, — no fate dreaded 
but shame of cowering, doubt 
of the glory, and cavil 
at the absolute right of the Order 

JO 



Symbolic Odes 

eternal j are got of otrtspreading 

magnanimous arms abroad 

to shelter^ benign^ 

all that is guileless and true 

lovely and glad ; are got, 

O venerable Tree, 

of fixedly viewing as thou, undaunted 

though awed, yon infinite 

expanse (terrific to puny 

folk centered in self, and vain) 

which floateth ever forever 

unconscious, calm, beautiful, holy, 

a myriad, myriad suns ! Which, beholding 

long, thou hast meted 

justly thy height — found it naught 

yet much ; — and, foreknowing thy natural 

doom, art complacent ; too honest to feign 

craven and false comforts ; nor minded 

having taken to withhold, out of pride 

eager to give and forgive I 

"Wherefore in vision prophetic 

Thou viewest (storm-felled, 

or thy grasp on the rock 

age-loosened) fallen, — idly afloat — 

root-moored or wind drifted — Thyself ; 

fostering, feeding 

with thy hardily-wrought fibre of life 

mosses and ferns, orchids and grass, 

parnassia with cups white and green 

quaint-carven of five petals ; yea, chokeberry shrubs, 

thy earliest foes ; honey-flowering 

azaleas, glossy-leaved laurels, rhododendrons 

n 



Symbolic Odes 



tortuous-wooded, pompous-blooming ; 

impartially kind to whatever 

faith sowed or wind's whim 

to sprout, shoot, bud and fruit, 

on Thee, their rich Isle of the Blessed ; 

with forbearance high-hearted, abiding 

patient the day, when, 

water-soaked w^holly 

in the long years, slow 

down thou wilt sink — 

blissfully dow^n — 

to delicious oblivion 

at last ; 

deep in the cool depths of the tarn, 

which all thy life through 

thou didst love, 

heroic, godlike Tree I 





The Rime of the Tarn 



a 



ARLING little Tarn, with the dark woods girt, 

high up the steep old mount, 

solitary, kithless, yet winsome, waggish, pert— 
for thy bonny tricksy air 
whereas the moralist would dare 
to account ? 

Since thou never didst an act 
that was truly altruistic, 
and thy nature ne'er was racfct 
with regrets, or passions mystic, 
unworried by the woes 
of the world, 
lying cuddled-up and curled 

13 



Symbolic Odes 

bKthe jocose, 

without faith or fealty, quite 

unaware of wrong and right ; 

Oh, so frivolous and gay 

as to dance all day, 

yea, 

and the whole night thro* 

too; 

and whoso will may hark, 

and envying hear thee mark 

with lapping lightsome laughters 

thy mad time, 

ignorant of bygones, incurious of hereafters, 

in thy wily happy innocence sublime I 

Darling little Tarn in the forested wilds 

assuredly thy heart is a child^s, a child^s — 

irresponsible and vital, — 

giving when it gives 

without reck of requital j 

taking while it lives 

what it wants ; 

free as the breeze's 

its favors and its taunts : 

it teases 

whom it pleases, 

whom it likes, heart-whole, 

must caress and cajole ; 

having never dreamed nor heard 

of Conscience and of Soul, 

deems cures for sin absurd; 

by no fetters ever bound, 

it refuses to be freed ; 

J4 



Symbolic Odes 



not lost at any time, prefers not being found ; 

for when hath it behaved 

in thought, in word, 

in deed 

(though all theofies^were waived 

of morals bad and good) 

otherwise — 

than as a tarn under deep blue skies 

midmost in a dense old wood 

should ? 

Is thy virtue unpretentious, 

be thy principles less strict, 

because thou never wast licentious 

or by tempter*s logic trickt ? 

And, therefore, thou seest no merit. Eh, 

in reasonless austerity? 

Yet if any have good right 

to preach and proselyte, 

if any might convert 

bad sinners and worse saints 

from wicked ways they*re us*d to, 

it is thou, little Tarn, brisk, nimble, and alert, 

who requiring no restraints, 

might*st commend them sans suspicion, 

shouldst thou choose to. 

But thou dost not, wilt not heed, 

thy * serious call ' and mission, 

nor the world^s bewildering need 

of some brand-new creed : 

thou art, dear Tarn, thou art, 

and lo, it sufficeth thee ; 

let Such as have been moralise, 

or Such as are yet to be I 

J5 



Symbolic Odes 



But oh, if mortals cottld but master 

the mystery, little Tarn, of thy moods I 

for the noblest, — in achievement 

bereavement 

disaster, 

courageous — lose buoyance 

of soul 

self-control 

at the daily-hatch*d brood 

of annoyance j 

the fret 

vexation, 

irritation, 

petty trifles beget. 

And methinks, — as I see thee lie 

rippling, 

contentedly tippling 

(as though a flood 

sunkisst 

thy supply 

to renew) 

the dew 

of the morning mist 

on leaftip, spine, grass-spear, frond, berry and bud 

condensM, — thy complacence 

comes of doing none obeisance, 

beholden 

unto none, 

not even the golden 

Sun I 

For Thou asketh no brook 

to come yodling and hooping 

and cheer thee, 

$6 



Symbolic Odes 



Of drooping 

tjpr ear thee ; 

no fillet in fef ny nook, 

pfetty lispef , 

to whispef 

soft names that endeaf thee, 

go tickling 

the mosses, f tin trickling 

to deaf thee ; 

and when storm-facks fain-sagging 

scowling, bullying, bragging 

foar 

o*ef 

the lowlands that flatten 

on the weather god^s favor to fatten, 

thou flauntest thy blossomy rich array 

near to the mountain's top 

with a dainty insolent witchery 

unwilling to beg thee a drop I 

And why? in the deeps of thee well-up 

bubbly springs of perennial springs jollity 

whereat on the sly thou quaffest, 

winkest 

saucily, thinkest 

some naughty thought, blinkest 

and then — 

laughest and drinkest 

again I 

Howbeit, when in winter the summit 

savage cloud-hordes envelope — 

dost thou sing it, or hum it 

thy tune of delight 

in defiance 



Symbolic Odes 

of the Giants 

and their ice-hearted might ? 

Nay I No swaggerer, churlish brawler, 

thou'rt no bittsterer, and bawler j 

but seemlier far, 

with the better part of valor — discretion — 

meetest 

and defeatest 

oppression. 

For so soon as ruffian winds come forth 

of the north 

wielding the sleet-Iash to scar, 

driving flurries 

before them of snows — 

(worries 

and w^oes 

to provoke thee 

willy-nilly 

and choke thee) 

little Tarn, still stilly 

a smoothe shiny sheet 

that dost over thee draw 

from sweet head to sweet feet : 

and whilst rifled 

of its leaves, 

stifled 

in drifts, 

the from forest aches 

heaves 

grieves and uplifts 

its arms with cruel icicles weighted 

to the hated 

demons for ruth ; 

18 



Symbolic Odes 

How the robins and I do wish ws 

with Thee in thine inviolate dream-Eden, 

where the tree-of-life grows 

for fancies do rest 

and nest, 

sing feed and breed in, 

and the fount of yotrth 

inexhaustible flows 

in four rivers of crystalline cheer I 

But lo I "When the spring-sun breaks 

thro' the welkin, and warm wind thaw 

about thee the missiles malicious 

of the storm and the gale, 

my wise Tarn 'wakes 

in good sooth ; 

and waters Thou hast to avail 

for the year, 

got without money or price 

from thy jolly fooIVparadise. 

Surely thy doctrine with tact is 

taught by thy practice : 

in days of dearth 

self-supplied 

Bride 

of mirth — 

in days of distress 

hid away in the deep 

blessed recesses of sleep I 

No marvel the oaks, stout blast fighters, mail-clad 
trunk limb bough in lichen ; the stark black birches 
waving delicate fresh volumes of greenery ; 
the chestnuts rough-barkt, bluff and burly 

\9 



Symbolic Odes 

up-thfusters 

in yellow-gfeen clusters 

of burs; the hemlocks, late and early 

on guard o'er the gracious scenery, 

grim, glum, sullen, surly,— 

yet kind 

to the wintering birds, who find, 

in their spiny dark, safe homes; 

the service-trees scrubby and gaunt 

that dangle, 

hzgmdgzdt their few pitiful pomes 

under foliage bluish, wi^en and scant; 

the rhododendrons whose firm gnarly wood. 

aslant 

in snaky tangle, 

shows how arduous (tho* they rant 

not, nor wrangle 

as we) 

even among tree-folk and shrub-folk the search is 
for Light — 
each with Iiis bad 
and his good, 

his record of wrong and of right- 
come marshaird in deep ranks close-serried 
to take solace in Thee, the Light-hearted 
the Glad I 

No marvel the jaunty-fronded rowan 
bronze-berried 
at first, then aflash 
with sumptuous opulent carmine, 
which, prodigal, he tosses 
to the winds with a fling and a dash ; 
the hobble-bush lusty, a-strain to display 

20 



Symbolic Odes 



his flame-coIor^d drupes 
in rivalry futile ; the slender 
merry 
wild-cherry 

his spring-radiance departed, 
retaining yet a tender 
subtle grace of his own ; 
the marrish-maple, whose mere poise airy 
unwary 

there *s charm in» 
and comeliness, dancing alway 
impatient to don frory 
glory; 

the highland-hoIIy, that to waterward stoops 
and a covert over-bow'rs 
with lucent ruby fruit 
bejewerd j the laurel, wayward, rash 
that leaps from his root 
whilst in lieu of his long-shed waxen flowers, 
every leaf of him agloss is 
with sallies of sunshine ; the modest azalea 
unqueen*d for the season, to the sorrow of mid-June 
having cast off too soon 

her orange, white and rosy honeysuckle regalia ; 
the green-brier belated, and inquisitive to boot, 
that in prickly- 
tickly 
festoon 

o'er his fellows goes trembling pell- 
mell; 

No marvel at all if they throng 
at thy marges, 
each pressing his suit 

2J 



Symbolic Odes 

for the boon : 

a first and a last sight of Thee 

who art free, 

gay 

as they ; 

who grantest great largess, 

yet makest no debtors 

(since to all what is thine doth belong) 

allowing no inferiors or betters, 

preferring not these anto those 

in thy childish millennial polity, 

because ever a jest 

sets the worst and the best 

at one in the throes 

of true jollity I 

No marvel, dear Tarn, thou canst cause 
the dead trees on thy surface afloat 
to nourish 

such wild-flowers as flourish 
not elsewhere so fair or so dense :— 
frolic mummers 
in the summer's 

lush pageant, to thy playful applause 
enacted, — for note : 
the neighborly masses 
of bugle-weed shaking their knots 
of silvery bloom-dots 
on the least little breezy pretense ; 
and the zephyrous tassled swamp-grasses 
and fretted ferns in narrow room sheet 
whom the rank rabbit-root, adept 
in rudeness, with his new-got black berry astrut, 

22 



Symbolic Odes 



tries to jostle ? 

that df oil tiny fellow 

(dwarf St. John's wort yclept) 

who, to honor fiis namesake apostle, 

starrily decks 

his crown with wee specks 

goIden-yellow^ ; 

the greenwood arcfiis with dare-devil air, 

and the highborn parnassia of her style half -a ware j 

Oh, how in thy waggish society 

stern 

Death, 

dear Tarn, doth learn 

to laugh at iimself under breath 

in a cantless, new, beautiful piety, 

even gruesome, cross, scare-crow old Death I 

No wonder if the sun from his high 
sky- 
mansion sends rays of his fire 
white-hot, to drench, 
them and quench 
their thirst, with thy stored 
hoard 
of purity, 
cooll 

No wonder the moon should draw 
mistily nigh, 
wistfully nigher, 
when scarce-fledged lovers feel 
at thought of their blissful futurity 
(sweet fool with sweet fool) 
on thy bosom together, strange awe 

23 



Symbolic Odes 



as Thott danccst thine elvish reel s 

diamond sparkle, 

quick glintt phosphorescent 

quicker 

flicker, 

iridescent 

opal shimmer, 

quiescent 

deliquescent 

dim, dimmer 

gleam and glimmer — 

and darkle ! 

No wonder the stars as they peep 

through the cirrous dome 

from the deep 

of infinite space, 

their home, 

fondle thy fresh still face 

■without wrinkle, 

and mirror in Thee their heavenly twinkle ; 

No wonder the thunder-fiend perched on the peak 

howling, 

growling 

to wreak 

his pent might, 

flings a steely white lightning to smite thee 

and afright thee, 

and roars out for boyish delight 

at the blinding blaze 

of thy swift indignant amaze, 

his vicious ill-humor quite 

gone. 



24 



Symbolic Odes 



No wonder the dawn 

(ere the least 

first streak 

in the East, 

that betokens earth^s yearning 

broadens corrttscates and flares 

the path of the Sun-Iord*s returning 

to strew with auroral 

floral 

splendors,) unfailingly spares 

her first faint most orient hues 

to enkindle the haze 

of thy grays, 

or thy satiny blues 

to suffuse, 

little Tarn in the mountainous wild, 

that dost make thee such godlike mirth 

of men^s notions of fitness 

and worth, 

immortal sure Witness 

to the truth 

and the youth 

of the Earth; 

thy soul unafraid, 

undefiled, — 

forever a Maid 

unfading, unplight — 

forever and ay 

at play, 

an innocent Child, 

and a Sprite I 






The Defiled Mountain Torrent 

LOUDILY winged, forest-manM, side by side 
o'er the green-and-yellow checker of tillage 
alluvial, and the hummocky fallows copse-mottled, asprawl 

in the stin and abask, — wnwieldily 

approximating their contorted ridged bulk, — 

in the shelter of their scarpt flanks 

the Mountains 

a seclusion inviolable create 

for some blessed cool Glen to lurk in 

from the rays of torrid noons fended 

and the irruption of hurricanes 

malign — some Rivulet, indubitably, in his infantile 

innocence disporteth him, rollicking 

from clear pool to clear pool ; and gleesomely 

loitering in his eddies, 

chuckles to himself at the play 

of the silver-sheeny trout, rosy-speckled. And, Oh, 

'twixt these imminent declivities 

with underbrush bristling, by the rank 

lush verdure.close-thatcht what abode 

26 



Symbolic Odes 

for the bob-white dainty-stepping, and the grotise 

bronze-f tjfft, with fife and with drum, 

to foregather and revel it in security 

life-lusty ; and here, too, timorous fugitive, 

can the cotton-tail claim sanctuary, 

and the hazards forgetting of existence one instant 

frisk wantonly, or nibble at ease. 

For with what bountiful supply 

doth not hospitably the Glen her visitors entertain ; 

herbs aromatic, spicy-nutrient roots 

and berries in succulent luscious plenty 

divers-flavored, sweet and tart, to each taste ! 

On, on will I hasten, yet discretely 
sure-footed, and circumspect, that, by the timidest 
denizen undetected, 
I may penetrate into the privacies 
sacred erstwhile 

to the horned and hoof t goat-thighed God Pan ; 
and, (tho* it was rumored 
that from earth He be departed, 
to reside in the Olympos snow-cappt 
of Mythology, scared by the scowl of lean-featur*d 
Science) devoutly, his blithe choristers, 
of manifold wild minstrelsy, 
will I hope have outstayed him : — 
first and foremost the wee wood-sprite, shy and saucy — 
thro* the bracken aflit, or dartling 
some mossy-carpeted log along — 
the winsome winter-wren, O might I but surprise him 
at his hyper-riotous up-bubble of mirth I 
Or if not him, then eavesdropping, 
the dusky-green vireo overhear, 

27 



Symbolic Odes 

as solitary he setteth him to rebuke 
with a vivacious virile vocalism the querulously- 
iterant soft plaint of the peewee, 

perverse shadow-haunter in woodland mazes sun-proof; 
or, (Oh, supreme unanticipated delight I) 
transfixt with a thrill of surprise — 
stand and harken (as if pain, age and death 
concerned us not ever) the hymn 
of lovers true-mated hermit — th' tiny thrush : 
a peace superlumary archangelical divine 
into melody molten, cool, diaphanous, 
soul-uplifting to a jubilant content, 

pugnacious spiky locusts, cross brambles, 
briers choleric and churlish, wicked virulent 
nettles, coarse tight-tangling grasses, — 

less obstreperously might ye I believe 

withstand one that forward thro' your thickest 

presseth with no malevolent intent ; 

for soonest exultingly my heart beats 

when nigh me some relative of mine — queer, canny 

fifth cousin, say, or sixth — unconstrainM 

in bush, brake, water, air, 

1 may watch at his frolicsome gambols, 

or the serious avocations of his life. Never fancied I 

glory could be gotten in the slaughter 

of a terrorizM brother, outwitted, 

worsted in a conflict unscrupulously unequal. Come, come, 

be ye civil to a friend who hath given you 

the password, and we will let bygones be bygones, 

my irascible stout fellows, as I slip me 

quietly atiptoe thro* your belligerent 

motley throng. For, I swear, 

28 



Symbolic Odes 



outposts ovef-^ealotts of the Glen, 
ttahamiM, nay ttntlireaten^d, shall they be 
all my kindred, feathery, furry, or finned — 
the lords hereditary of your fortified 
recesses. 

What? Hist I On the wind- 
is it a cry ? Nay, a brawl rather and a bellow, 
a roar — a thunder-burst of waters I The Glen 

1 foreknew (from excessive sun-ardors by hemlocks 
umbrageous, and adventuresome birches 

leafily screened) ; ay, the Glen meandering 

scathless and free among huge 

crags by some cataclysmical upheaval of the earth 

asunder-cloven, wrencht, shattered, jammed 

in ages prehuman ; — cliff -walls 

whose least ledges cracks and crevices by rash ferns, 

vertiginously aquiver, are tenanted, 

or by shrubbery gorgeous-blooming, 

and by intricate viney entanglements 

precipitately down-tumbling, that athwart 

the chasm green arms wavy and hands, 

amicable, extended to one another in impetuous 

felicitations, at the faintest whiff of air 

almost touch ; — O the Glen 

so bewilderingly beautiful, labyrinthine, sequestered, 

(strange, strange I) is not the happy 

channel, as I imaging it of a brooklet splash-plashing 

bubble-babble, sing-song in excess — 

aspatter, and aspirtle— of delighted limpidity ; but instead- 

a rocky-barred keep, subterranean 

kennel for some Leviathan terrific 

dementedly pounding in self-annihUatory desperation, 

29 



Symbolic Odes 

up-panting a convtjkive dank blast 
demoniacal, to set the vasty scar-fastnesses 
ashttdder from the bottom to the top I 

Best-Lov'd, first-Begotten of the sky, 

foster-Child of the mountains, 

"What is it with impunity doth afflict thee? 

Thee, -who the very hemlocks wouldst — enormous, 

majestical, — deracinate in a trice 

and voluminously overwhelm them, 

resisted they thy thoroughf aring ; O Thou 

who the rugged adamantine granite grindest 

with the pulses of thine onslaught spasmatic 

and the unintermittent wash swift 

of multitudinous swirling waters ; O Thou, 

tho* utterly thou scorncst to be commiserated — 

speak, speak I For, notwithstanding 

thou tossest yonder downfallen giant bole 

sore-batter*d of a sycamore, 

frivolously as a mere flocculent 

scum-raglet, and at his antics uncouth 

(when frantical, for some stay, clutching, he writhes, 

lurches and lumbers down thy rapids) inebriate 

with wrath, dost into laughter vindictive 

break hideously ; — Nevertheless yet 

there abideth in the occult deeps of man 

a spirit that insurgent, mightily to thee-ward 

yearneth. Then, Oh, utter 

I supplicate, nay adjure thee, thine innermost 

rancor incommunicable I For wronged, wronged, 

yea, wronged art Thou if aright 

the tremulous overtone I interpret, and the mutterings — 

unpremeditated, inadvertent, mysterious, 

30 



Symbolic Odes 



abysmical — that perturb 

with a panic the hearer ; those wails, sobs, 

pitifully human, half-suppresst, yet thro* the din 

audible in a ghostly suspiration, as thou rumblest 

and from rocklevel to rocklevel 

down precipice after precipice 

crashest in cataracts horrisonous, suicidal, 

lacerating thee to grisly froth-shreds, 

and soul-seething. Thou hissest and up-spewest 

haggard, awful, 

an insensate contempt of Thyself. 

Behold, for a space farther forth 

the ravine wide-yawns and admitteth 

the sun to irradiate thee with diamantine 

splashes of living splendor. Quick thither 

am I wending through close-twisting masses 

of blossomy laurel, over root-claspt rocks, 

moist and slippery, about trunks of superb 

hemlocks collossal, and there, 

quieted for an instant, may thine ire 

get articulate expression. What meaneth it? 

Speak I Assuredly, — an ocular illusion ? in the shine 

thy swollen floods effervescent whirl 

golden, and regurgitate bron^e-umbery, 

russet-shimmering in the distance? Too well 

have I understood thee now. Thee 

and thy dire speech— O Thou, 

who hadst dedicated thy Self — 

to maintain thee unpolluted the purity of thy origin, 

and the rivers, whereunto thou shalt be tributary, 

so much as in thee lieth with thy crystalline 

onrush to clarify, and the ocean^s 

3J 



Symbolic Odes 



tf ackish wallow and welter, if it were possible, 
to sweeten v/ith thy savor 
of sky — O Thou, Thou 
evenj> Tho« also hast altogether forfeited 
thy hyaline pellttcidity, befouled — 
tttrbid, yea, maculate I maculate I 
And, as a nightmare again 
horrifies, remembered, Lo I the Mill — 
that bestrode thee intercurrent between 
slopes once thick-w^ooded — w^here it squats 
before me, as when I quicken'd my pace 
endeavoring not to see or hear aught i — 
the loathsome canker-Monster omnivorously 
ravening into the sacred dense evergreen gloom. 
And mine ears, in despite of me, the shrill 
shrieks of the steam- whistle affray ; and the screech 
and the howl of the rotatory saws terminating 
in a raucous death-rattle and fierce 
rasp ; and the wheezy respiration of the engines 
rust-pockt ; and the clatter interminable 
of shingles and plank. What scraggM piles 
of strippt tanbark beatle and totter akimbo I "What mounds 
funereal of sallow saw-dust, wind-fretted, thy gorge 
choke-up, and throttle thee to strangulation ! 
Obsessed am I by the groans of timber-loaded 
wanes, lashes of the whip-thongs, and the strain 
intolerable of starved mutilated 
brute flesh — blood, sweat, obscene jest 
and profanity ! O Brother 
spare me thy reproach, for too keen 

mine abhorrence of the desecration that hath been committed 
by greed-craz'd human kinsfolk I disown — 
no fellows they of mine — yea, yea I saw them — 

32 



Symbolic Odes 



and still sec them in memory, — those archways 

gothic-pointed of laurel, demolisht by fiend-fires : 

black skeletons that convulsive coil and crook them 

in a drunken death-dance ; and the soil, where 

charred, lye-bitten to an aching waste, 

ghastily it gapes sunward. And within me 

my spirit groaneth, outraged 

at the fatuous devastation of the Earth — 

our long-suffering Mother — 

humiliated, sacrilegiously defied 

by the very children of her heavcn-hallowed womb 1 

Woe, woe is me — not unseldom, 

O Torrent of savage sorrow unassuagable, 

was I maddened with thy phrenzy ere this — 

fanatical, at thought of the despoilers, the deflowerers, 

the devastators I Nor thou only 

hadst to suffer contamination, and of miscreants 

the cynical unconcern. If it listeth thee, — inveigh, 

and the turbulence of thy distress ease, 

by imprecatory bursts of vehemence — 

ineffectual, alas I Ejaculate, O ejaculate 

in the paroxysms of delirium, thine anathemas ; 

and I will abase me, shamefast 

in thy presence, to hearken : 

"Man, Man*' 
thou criest-out with a voice of great grief 
unsubduable yet chastened, transmuted 
to rage prophetic : ** Man, Man 
whom for aeons on aeons 
We of the ancienter order elemental, 
rapturously expectant, did adore ; 

33 



Symbolic Odes 

instantaneous his insight and unerring, 

omnipotent the pressure, 

unimaginable the dexterity of his miracle-working hands ; 

Man, Man, magnanimous (woe, woe'I) 

we had imagined him, lofty-tempered j 

Mind, discerning of the Process creative 

the implicate ends ; supreme 

Will, by glad godly indefatigable labors 

fashioning, into a reality of unillusionary 

loveliness, our vision long-worshippt 

of the world ? Man, Man • ♦ . 

and Oh, lo I — he hath appear^ — 

and we have beholden him : no divinity 

but a Demon — tempter, torturer, corrupter — 

no law venerated that prohibiteth 

a gratification instantaneous of his glutton wants, 

cra^'d desires ;— Man, Man — 

oppressor without scruple of the weaponless 

and confiding ; extirpator of the formidable 

frank-hearted, noble-spirited, that stoop them not 

to be yokt and made vile ; sparing only 

that thenceforward thy soul 

may in orgic massacres delight itself ; vandal-violator 

of beauty, wrought solemnly thro* the centuries 

and slow, for Thee, ingrate, to marvel at 

and rejoice-in j O Man I — 

forever must thy tyranny 

be irresponsible to reason, right, ultimate 

self-interest ? Wilt thou persist, 

in the ruin, maniacal ravager, of thy heritage — 

the one star of thy birthright ? Dost thou dread not 

the degeneracy of thine imperial 

breed, and at naught settest thou thy destiny 

34 



Symbolic Odes 

of Godhood ? No premonitory misgivings, 

ere yet it be too late, wilt thou give ear to? 

And wilt then dare in after ages, 

(Fooll Fool I) 

when self-doom'd thou art perishing, 

at the mirth-twinkling heavens to vent thee 

in maledictions preposterous, because 

the old bosom forsooth, scarred, bruisM, 

gore-bedabbled, of thy Mother 

will not foster more, and rear as of old, 

thy pullulent generations— the Mother 

(loving, responsive to her offspring 

until cold at the last, stark, dead), 

of Thee, slain — blind, ruthless, false Son I *' 

Sad misanthropist sublime, 

comfort thee, comfort thee — for high 

above thy final leap and lunge, 

horrific, into the chasm, 

forever vortically to engulf thee from sight 

of thyself and the dizzy-swaying sun, — 

Canst thou see not how a bare bough 

intrepidly thy spray-cloud 

overreaches and the arching prism-splendors 

that environ and enaureole thy hoar stormy-Iockt 

head calamitous? — Behold (if but a moment 

thou wilt allow thee to be distracted 

from tfiine anguish) how a Bird 

percheth him on the lichen-hair'd 

tip-most twig — (what, dost thou recognize not 

thy well-wisher?) brown-speckled, buff -breasted, 

rufous-green — wing and tail I 'T is, O joy I 

the swamp-angel, the diminutive Throstle 



Symbolic Odes 

of the solitude — andto capture thy notice, 

thf o* the vibrating a^wre, 

in quick loops aerial, he wingeth him, 

and returneth undaunted again 

his word of consolation to deliver — for see, see I — 

he w^arbleth now some dythiramb unimpassionately 

voluble — a paean of victory *i is, spiritual, 

for thy hearing ; and the strains, 

in the boom of thine uproar inaudible, 

my heart echoeth : — 

** Hark, Hark, 
wert Thou still uncontaminate as erst 
(O mountain Torrent, — harken, harken, 
and take comfort I) — not so dazzling were 
the whiteness of thy bubbly foam ; Nor thy spray-mists, 
wind-agitated, were fret elusively 
with such palpitant sun-glories ; 
Nor overspun with vivid frostwork 
so lacily were thy cataracts, evermore 
spirting sparkles, and outfraying into traceries 
iridescent of spume ; Nor so ferocious — 
verily, verily — were 

thy denunciations hurPd at Evil, earthshaking, 
hoarse-reverberant under hollowed-out 
silvery-oozing and dribbling mosst scars ; 
Nor would gusts so irresistible set adancc 
the leafage on the tree-tops, in jubilation 
that they hang beyond reach 

utterly of all soilure ; Nor were the flaming sun-flower, 
and, fragrant, the raspberries with their wild-rose bloom, 
purple, and the constellated aster 
yellow-cor'd, lavender or milky-petall^d, 

36 



Symbolic Odes 



thus regally invested, transfigured 

with such crystalline, rainbow-radiant array ; 

Nor below, where forespent 

thou tarriest a while gasping 

for wrath-respite — and thy anarchical 

yeasty turmoil out-smoothens 

to an ominous glassy glare, — wouldst Thou spread 

so burnished a mirror as now 

(of thy very swarthiness clearer) 

for sun, stars, luminous clouds and the ardent 

f irmamental still Blue I ** 

Comfort thee, comfort thee 

implacable defiled Torrent, 

for thy Consoler 

carolleth, still carolleth, 

the transparency thou shall yet achieve thee 

of thy purificatory fury 

at pollution. Thine, thine 

(so he singeth faith-exhuberant) 

shall a virgin Immaculacy 

more miraculous than erst be ; 

and brave-souPd shalt thou bear it to the ocean 

the vast, bitter and foul ocean that at least 

by so little it may the sweeter, 

the clearer be. Nor for naught 

shall thine agonized mad curses 

to the welkin have forth-thunder'd. 

For there cometh, Oh there cometh 

(hear, hear him at his ultimate 

fugue ecstatic I) 

the Man of thy holy hope — He 

the expected, the worshippt, the ftilfiller — 

37 



Symbolic Odes 

of his advent divine the foreordained 

times shortened 

with the cry 

tininterrupted, savage, fearful, of thy desire,- 

O defird mountain Torrent, inspired 

Prophet of evil, — 

by Thee I 





The Mule : a Swnr ise whimsy 

HERE spanned the road lies 

by the massy iron bridge 

above the power-house with its perpetual 
wind-flutter'd steam banner, 
I was sauntering ere fully yet day dawned, 
listless, of protracted toil weary, 
and despairing of sleep. The wicked steely 
glints of the oil'd machinery 
ponderous, at work under persistent 
scrutiny of electric eyes, 
spider-like depending from roof-rafters 
uncannily, my mind haunted % till homeward 
I turn'd, and yonder on the far side 
of the lower road-cut, the quarried hill, gray, 
perpendicular, stubborn, confronted me, crested 
with a dusky hunch, gruesome, that at times 
seem'd to waver as to outline, and stir 
in lurches erratic on the uttermost sheer z6^%z* 
Still-standing, long fascinated, 
I ga^M, and at length 
the dawn-gleams, uncertain, revealed 
irreverently the patient hill^s scalp 
of rank weeds wiry tugging : — 
a Mule 1 And I mused 

39 



Symbolic Odes 

straightway of the People wncifcumspect 

ever feeding on the verge of a civic 

abyss without light, 

nor feeling of any — great lack, 

for the togging and the munching of the weeds I 

Suddenly, as intent at the creature 
I lookt, — that had ceas'd 
in his dignity symbolic to suggest 
aught vulgar, flippant, whimsical, — a burst 
of bloody light volcanic 
from some crater, so it seemed, 
close behind him deep-yawning, etch*d-out 
lean legs, downcast head, ears protuberant, 
ignominous tassePd tail 
the flushed sky against, that enhaloed him ; 
wholly, however, 

at the grotesque weird silhouetting of his form 
the Mule was undismayed, and gra^'d on — 
for nowise the illumination, you conceive, 
marr*d the pungeancy acrid 
of the weeds I And a laugh, bitter, unawares 
startled me (tho* my own) recalling 
how we prate — eloquently — about reform, 
progress, enlightenment (foolish 
self -deceivers I) and the sure 
holy common sense of arous'd 
public Opinion I But lo, 
from the body of the Mule, as I ponder'd 
dejectedly man's future political and social- 
swift rays to the zenith up-flew, 
fanlike outspread ; and at once 
the steam-banner, on the power-house flaunted, 

40 



Symbolic Odes 

caught fife ; and scuff ying f Itiff t cloudlets 

like a butterfly bevy of school-girls 

white ffockt^ from class discipline releast, 

through the sky rompt, — the fresh child's 

glow joyous, of heahh, in their cheeks. Then the sun 

red-golden up-bulg*d from eclipse 

behind the tassel-taii'd, droop-ear'd 

beast of burden, and behold I 

at last — it was Day 1 

O People, is it truth, sober, — or a mere 

sanguine self-delusion of minds 

foolishly millennial, (mad theorists I) — O People 

tugging, munching the weeds unconcernedly, — 

the faith, that a Sun 

by thy ill-shap*n bulk, awkward, 

ridiculous, yet maskt is ; — a Sun 

that even now, up-struggling to shine, 

shortly shall the whole heavens enkindle 

to such blaze 

of great glory, as hitherto seer saw not 

in vision apocalyptic ? Fool I Fool ! 

to ask questions of thee who art wont, 

(not heeding star-gazers, nor prophets,) 

to tug away still, 

in the manner of thy hybrid folk 

time out of mind, 

industriously, at the scalp 

wiry-weeded of the doomed quarry-hill I 



Symbolic Odes 



Afterword 



OT have these Lines been lying 
in Metre's Procrustean bed; 
their rack-extended feet, 
or truncated limbs adorn*d 
with barbarous jewels of Rime. 
Free be these Lines, 
and their Rhythm: 
only the motion— responsive to soul— 
of sadness or madness or mirth 
irresistible; 

yielding the body in confidence 
absolute unto the God who would speak, 
through leap and whirl and pose 
in breathless obedience to Himl 






Lyrics and Occasional Verse 




The Beeches of Fern Bank 

^ BEECHES, deaf Fern Bank beeches, 
I greet you in haste as I pass, 
2J How vast, still, and tender your reach is 
over the wavy grass I 
Yottr boughs (droop they moveless, or stir they, 

soft-swaying in the summery air,) 
are inviting'me — all unworthy — 
your fellowship true to share. 

O beeches, dear Fern Bank beeches, 

men may envy your vigor and grace : 
for grown great in your brotherhood, each is 

content with his ancient place; 
not restive as We and ambitious, 

with our fate perversely at strife* 
"What better, dear trees, can ye wish us 

than with You — to live our life ? 

43 



Lyrics and Occasionat Verse 

O beeches, dear Fern Bank beeches, 

a consecrated grove ye are , 
for Dantes and chaste Beatrices 

in the glimmer of the twilight star j 
for memories, ecstatical fancies 

alone in the mid of the night ; 
not bann'd from your shadow romance is, 

or Utopian devotion to right I 

O beeches, dear Fern Bank beeches, 

calm warders of river and road, 
persuasive your whispered speech is, — 

with You will I make mine abode ; 
and study as You to stand quiet 

upreaching to heaven in prayer 
for thb beautiful Earth, so nigh it, 

while fondling its undulant hair I 



d^ 



Palmistry 

Little hand, let me look at its lines — 
I can read it, I know to-day. 

Let me hold it i too brightly it shines, 
I must read it some other way. 

Let me rivet it tightly to mine — 

't is the same that last night I kisst* 

Let them lie in your lap. I 'II divine 

palm to palm, thus, and wrist to wrist* 

44 



Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

What I learn? I can't tell yoti, Yow eyes 
btrt repeat what the pulse just said:-— 

I have learned all I want, and am wise,— 

and none shall know what IVe read. ('90) 



t^ 



Dirge 

Drift, drift away — 

none knoweth whither bottnd* 

Thy hand upon the river lay, 

sweet Love, and stay its sound* 

The water-lilies sleep, 
the meadows dream, 

the silver willows weep 
beside the stream, 
past, past the steeple in the twilight gray- 
drift, drift away I 

Flow, flow along, 

thou deepening River go 
in silent majesty, thy song 

sung under breath and slow. 
The shores fast widen, fade, 

and leave Thee free i 
into the night flow unafraid, 

into the sea — 
far, far to where the waves are long and strong — 

flow, flow along I ('90) 

45 



Lyrics and Occasional Verse 
Ode in Sapphics 

Sung at the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Cincinnati Literary Club. 

Sing the good Old Days that are gone forever, 
rich in friendship, love ; and for sturdy virtue, 
honest purpose, faith, and heroic action, 
sweet to remember. 

Half a hundred years of success and failure : 
earth and sky and sea are the same, and little 
change the ways of men ; the beholder only 
ages and passes. 

Wherefore mourn, sweet friends, or despond or marvel ? 
Still the New Days come — for the Maker liveth — 
young and fresh and bold, and the cry is ever 
upward and onward I 

Past and future meet in the vital present ; 
thankfulness and trust in a pure emotion, 
making wise the young, and the old courageous, 
singing together : — 

Sweet the good Old Days to recall and cherish; 
sweet the good New Days to forecast and welcome ; 
sweet the tried, the known j and the fresh surprises 
also delightful I 

Surely pain and grief to the brave and noble 

yield a pleasure, yield a reward of virtue : 

faith in life, death, God, and in man, our brother, 

ever, forever I ('99) 

46 



Lyrics and Occasiond Verse 
To a Latterday Prophet 

(who came late, and went forth too soon) 

He came to us with soul on fire, 

he came to us from the East with light : 

we heard, we saw ; and God drew nigher, 

and wrong was wrong, and right was right. 

He went forth from among us then. 
All soon would be as ere he came j 

for men, we murmured, are but men, 

and the world's ways for aye the same I 

Ah, who that clomb the heights serene 

in sleep, can after quite forego 
the vision ? gainsay, that once hath seen, 

its glory; and the known unknow? 

For His sake life hath holier worth, 

our faith made sure — whatever we are — 

that still our man-corrupted Earth 

shines in God's firmanent — a star I 
47 



T 



Lyrics and Occasional Verse 



To Souls 

Among the Stars 

TcU tis, tell us, we beseech you 

do You love us still? 
Earth's mad cry, speak, can it reach you 

on heaven's shining hill ? 

O the Stars, lights of your city 

burning in your streets, — 
tell us. Friends, for old love's pity 

if love's heart yet beats. 

Far forever must we linger, 

hopelessly alone ? 
Point our way with spirit-finger 

to your Land unknown I 

** Ye will follow — surely follow," 
hear their sweet reply 1 
A mere echo strange and hollow 

to our 'wilder'd cry* ('90) 

48 



^ 



Lyrics and Occasionat Verse 



After Tears 

When the f ain-df ops shiver in tree-tops high, 

and glisten and twinkle now crimson, now gold ; 

and the green grass glows as a star-strown sky, 
whose webs are heavy with wealth untold ; 

with a glad qttick chirp, or a sweet long cheep, 
when birds have begun to flutter and hop ; 

and the bright twigs, startled from day-dreams deep, 
in panic stidden their treasures drop; 

when at wayward intervals clear loud notes 

go cleaving with gladness the hush of the air ; 

when, the rent clouds drifted away, earth floats 
in sight of heaven — bid good-by to Care I 

"We will fling wide windows and doors — ask in 
the breeze that is longing to visit us. Dear; 

and the sweet-heart blossoms that fain would win 
(your honeysuckles) a welcome here I 

Let us lean close. Darling 1 Let cheek touch cheek, 
let hand be in hand as though never to part. 

Let us breathe life's fullness — and no word speak — 

just feel Love knitting us heart to heart I ('90) 

49 



A 



Lyrics and Occasional Verse 



A Respite 

Laughing I lay on a Summer's day, 

bedded in blossoming grass ; 
and little, little did I think of Her I 
Love is not all of life — alas I 
'would that it were, 
'would that it were I 

Oh I that we could be but understood : 

bees must their honey amass 
when skies are blue and grasses lightly stir. 
Love is not all of life — alas 1 
'would that it were, 
'would that it were I 

Selfish the soul that from love-dreams stole, 

watching the gay breeze pass 
o'er ferns and flowers, but Oh I all tilings aver: 
Love is not all of life — alas I 
'would that it were, 
'would that it were I ('87) 

Sympathetic Music 

Breath-seizing, irresistible delight I 

O Singer, sweet and pure, 
beneath the dartling stars thy magic might 

who could for long endure? 

50 



Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

Those tensest strings to skilled white fingers yield 

their plaintive spirit-wails, 
till half our sorest sorrowing is healed 

wafted to Dreamland vales : 

trippings of children's rosy feet, light, gay 

down silver stairs of sound ; 
sobbings of love, unanswered, far away, 

of yearning heavenward bound > 

dark feelings for a music still more sweet, 

with aching heart astrain j 
delicious dyings at beloved feet — 

intensest, dearest pain ) 

soft, soul-seducing harmonies that make 

delirious fancies come, 
and, ere their azure-winged flight they take, 

with bliss the heart benumb; — 

Oh I I have listened till the Past hath seem'd 

changed in all bitter things; 
till in the bitterness of bliss I dream'd 

that love no sorrow brings. 

Then notes fell thick in pearly rain, like tears, 

and lay like gracious dew 
Among the thirsting flowers— thought dead long years— 

and lo I they bloom'd anew I ('89) 




Lyrics and Occasional Verse 



A February Day in Tennessee 

I lie among the yellow grasses^ 

so tall and dry ; 
and, as I lie a cloudlet passes 

athwart the sky. 

The day is warm, though it be early 

in welcome spring ; 
flowers are not yet, nor fall dews pearly 

from midnight's wing, 

'Ti s Hope alone as yet who dallies 

from dell to dell, 
and through the leafless garden-alleys 

bids the buds swell* 

But, as yon cloudlet flieth further 

evading view, 
O where if ever, tell me, were there 

such depths of blue 1 

Idly I snatch the withered grasses 

by handful sheaves, 
and twist them into arching masses 

with shaggy eaves, 

and^lo I a gothic baptistery : 

four arches keen 
of sunny gold, and with the very 

blue sky between I 

52 



Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

And so, I fall a-dreaming sweetly 

of One — God knows ♦ . • 
(how should I name her indiscretly — 

my dewy rose?) 

Here have we been betroth'd and married, 

and fast we fly 
on wings of skyey genii carried, — 

glad She and I, 

"Whither ? Who asks in such still weather 

if East or "West? 
So, Darling, we but fare together 

all ways be best I 

What? but a day-dream? O dear grasses, — 

alone, unwed? 
I scan each cloudlet as it passes 

high overhead , ♦ • 

bound for Love's mystical far Thule, 

do they not seem ? 
O might I evermore — but truly 

dream this one dream I ('8S) 



e^ 



The Firefly 

I wonder what flowers and grasses 
can think of the firefly light, 

as his circle of splendour passes 

in and out thro' their tangle all night. 

53 



Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

There, see how they quiver as they listen, 

just startled from sad bright dreams I 
how their eyes, that are dew-drops, glisten 

and return to the firefly his beams I 

They hide from fiis glory qttickly 

the griefs of their glad, sweet selves — 

till their shadowlets faint lie thickly 
all around as woven of elves. 

On high on a throne of clover, 

he rests him awhile and swings, 
while the flowers tell him over and over 

such a marvel of gossipy things I 

Then kissing the crimson clover, 

he opens his wings' light sweep, 
and away is the starlike rover, 

and the grasses and flowers go to sleep. ('90) 



The Hawk 

A BALLAD OF DAWN IN COLLOQUY 

First voice — 

The Mom hath tiptoe stolen near to Night 
and cast her upon him in love's delight I 

Second voice — 

Their arms enlac'd, their warm close lips have met, 
her hair all unknotted — 't is twilight yet I 

54 



Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

Fifst voice — 

With her pale self she covers him. She seems 
to lie like a snow-drift above fiis dreams. 

Second voice — 

Wfiite shines she» naked mid her golden hair^ 
and smiles as he dies — for the day is there I 

Third voice — 

A Pigeon flies. Lo, it darts ! it rocks in air, 

till the plumes of its wings meet behind — 
till the foe is lost I But who can share 
my joy? "Who sing it forth? Oh I ne'er 

to be gifted for utterance — doom unkind I 

First voice — 

Far up from the green of the field, 

from the gold of the sunlit river, 
from graves where mourners have kneePd, 

from boughs with their sparkle of beads ashiver — 
up out of the chalice of dawn — 

the eye of night in the lily of day, 
out of his nest — is the Lark upgone 

on his steep, sweet, song-pav*d way. 

Up, into the sky hath he fled, 

where the blue and the calm dwell ever, 
where sounds of struggle are dead. 

He hath vanquished its summit with wings* endeavour. 
Then, shake out thy shower of notes I 

The veins of silence with melody pulse. 
Sing, little Lark, from thy throat of throats I 

With thy joy heaven's heart convulse I 



Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

Second voice — 

A shadow I — a Foe — a scream I 

a shtidder — grim claws — 
fiend's beak — keen eyes that gleam I 

a flash — a pause. 

A pitiful scream to hear I 

a rush to the sky — 
the Foe beneath ! — no fear — 

a triumph-cry I 

Both voices — 

Shoutt shout, 
that the Fiend hath misst his prey I 
Mad song, ring out 
exhultantly I 

Thrilll Thrill 1 
In the heaven's great deep-blue eye, 
bask thee, and still 

sing, sing, on Iiigh I 

Third voice — 

O Lark I my soul was rescued from its foe, 

but it knew not thy voicing occult 
that can utter glee, and heavenward tlirow 
the blissful soul to God I I glow 

with the fire of thy triumph. Exult 1 Exult I 

All voices and echoes — 

Exult I ("90) 

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Lyrics and Occasional Verse 



Dream and Waking 

A Bridal-Symphony in Seven Lyrics 

Emptied of wine the cup of blinding blaze, 
wherewith the Day, that died as die prottd days, 

Eve's dtisk and starlight pledged ; 
the daisy-suns have gathered in their rays 

snow-Ittminous, rosy-edgM, 

Eve held her mist-blue goblet full of rest, 
gray sleep, and silver dreams, and wishes blest, 

to challenge His, aloft : — 
both cups clasht — shiver'd, inundating the West 

with slumberous passion soft. 

Into the sea of Night, Day's wine hath pour'd, 
stain'd it a moment — then gloom-billows roar'd 

and foam'd and blackened all* 
O sea of Night, vague, vast and silent-shor'd, 

death-torpid thy billows fall I 



Frail bougfis of precious sprays, 

that twine and press sweet blossoms cheek to cheek, 
why, when no wayward breath essays 
to tangle itself in your bright maze, 

be ye tremulous? Speak, bright branches, speak. 

57 



Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

**A nest lies hidden here — 

an old year's nest through winter safely kept ; 
and happy boughs are w^e, for we're 
of all the bloomy boughs most near 

to where innocent birds last summer slept I 

Two wayfarers are flown 
back to the nest of merry months gone-by ; 

and nestle wing to wing, unknown 

of all the world save us alone, 
as they twitter in sleep, and dream they fly,'* 

A charm 
lies closely over all ; 

no harm 
can any soul befall. 

So dark, 
so still, O lovely night . • . 

But hark, 
what heavenly-swect affright? 

Burst, rise, irrepressible song I 

To hearken — 't is to die, 
to float away amid a wild-wing'd throng — 
ecstatic notes — into the madden'd sky. 

Rush waves, of impassioned sound 

till stars the dark abyss 
enkindle ; till ye flood us forth, and, drown'd, 
cast us on shores remote of heaven's still bliss I 

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Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

O boyish 

Delight 
why haunt mc 

to-night? 

Forgotten 

almost^ • • • 
yea, merely 

a ghost — 

a misty 

moongleam, 
a f ancy, 

a dream, 

a vision that 

with dawn 
doth fade and 

is gone I 

No power hast Thou at all 
on Her, my Bride, 
Thou couldst enthrall 
the youth that long since died, 
never the man Thou darest here to haunt,- 
Wraith of the past, Spirit of ill, avaunt I 

She dreams of me . . • She breathes 
upon my breast . • * 
my hand ensheathes 
Her little hand . . . 'T were best 
never to wake when dreams are over-dear,- 
never to wake — ever to slumber here. 



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Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

"What weird dream have I dream'd 
hard to recall ? 
Ay I so meseem'd 
I stood in some vast hall 
lonely and sad, a disillusioned yotrth 
loathing the He — fearing the face of truth* 



All the life since became 
unreal ; yea She 
a myth, a name. 
I yearn'd to bow the knee, 
reverent to some strange Deity, my own 
Creature-of-cloud, "Witch-of-my-dreams unknown. 

There mov'd unheard, but felt, 
a shining Thing, 
whose either wing 
covered me as I knelt : — 
** Vision of perfect being, holy, sweet, 
let me remain— perish, but kiss thy feet I*' 



Face white 
*neath infinite night, 
eyes full of love and light,— 
a mystic spell t 

lips, rose 
as'^dawn-lit snows, 
quiver, then tightly close, 
lest of their love too soon they tell; 

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Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

soft gleams 
of neck, dim dreams 
of shoulders, arms, ^neath streams 
of tumbling gloom i 

Love's form, 
divine I A storm 
of passion shakes me. Warm 
with thy warm self my ice-cold tomb I 

Nay, Thou, 
art even now 
another's, for thy brow 
my suit condemns ; 

and yet . ♦ ♦ 
What snare is set — 
shining and dewy-wet, 
of grasses woven and daisy-stems? — 

Ensnared ? 
Nay, — who hath dar'd 
to bind Night's Queen dark-hair'd 
with mesh on mesh? 

to throw 
webs, silken, aglow 
with dew-pearls, o'er thy snow — 
stars gather'd in heaven's garden fresh? 

"Why rend 
from end to end 
those Eastern curtains? Bend 
o'er me, strange Qvitcii I 

Thy face 
hath lost its grace ? 
Fly, Siren, fly this place — 
some foe destroyeth thee unseen I 

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Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

The sun I 
The morn begun I 
The stars blown out each one I 
Day's diadems 

flash bright. 
The Witch-of-night, 
the Siren moony-white 
hath vanished in a flare of gems I 



Awake are the birds, 

awake is my heart, 
forgotten the words 
which made Night's magical spell bttt now ; 

and happier am I, 

for near me Thou art : 
so sweet and so shy, 
my Bride I Trtrth sweeter than Dreams art Thou I 

Nocturne 

Evening hath come, mystery-fraught, 
stilling the feverous pulses of thought. 
Darling, I pray — often thou cheatest 

Time of his minutes that silently fly — 
sing me a song, sing me thy sweetest I 

hearts will ache they know not why — 

ache — I know not why, 

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Lyrics and Occasional Verse 

hiic is a voidf lonely and black ; 

lasts but a moment the meteor's track i 

all that we do, all that we suffer, 

lost in the gloom of a desolate sky I 
But for thy songs seas had been rougher — 

sing then, darling, sing nor sigh 

seeing daylight die I 

Visions of strength, visions of peace, 

visions of love when our sorrow shall cease » 

visions of faith, visions of splendor, 

all, indistinct, in the twilight flit by* 

Give me thy hand — gentle and tender. 

Darling, sing I . . . They all draw nigh — 

sing, and heaven is nigh I ('90) 

Autumn Sadness 

Sad deemest thou the glorious death of day, 

when the last beams, caught by horizon-mist, 
flare out in crimson, rose, gold, amethyst — 

the prismal secrets of the living ray? 

And sad the carnival of colors gay 

wherewith, at the year's set, the leaves insist 
they too are of the sunny Colorist 

light-hearted children tho* the frost gainsay? 

Sad is the vast laugh of the wind-clear'd sky, 
the waste of shine on symmetries reveal'd 

in the strippt boughs ? Blasphemer, why proclaim 
with thine own mouth thy spirit's piteous shame ? 
For still the brave, and the proud who dare not yield, 
divine the joy of dying ere they die I ('00) 

63 



Lyrics and Occasional Verse 



Frost-Worfc 

*Twas a chill, chill night, and my Love slept fast, 

on her warm, soft couch asleep — 
and a love-lorn glance at her bedside cast, 

I did steal tip-toe to peep 
thro* the moonlit window with woodbine hung, 

which in spring blooms rich, but now 
with its cIose-twin*d twigs, that their fretwork flung 

on the panes, seemed sad somehow. 

It was still. Th* tree-tops in their ice-mail shone, 

and the ground crispt hard and keen, 
and the stars got cold as the hours crept on, 

and the tired moon drows'd between 
indistinct blue hills. So I pray*d friend Frost, 

as my soul breathed warm good-byes, 
for my own sweet Love, who in sleep lay lost, 

to record Love's hallowed sighs. 

Then I stole forth sure that she soon must know 

how I watcht all night anear — 
nor disturbed glad dreams as the moon set slow, 

and the stars droop*t 'reft of cheer. 
Ere the day dawn'd fully a sunbeam sought 

from her eyelids sleep to shame — 
for the hoar panes glister'd where Frost's skill wrought 

in a fern-frond wreath my name I ('90) 

64 



LBJe'07 




Impromptu 



To common Seekers — nothing btrt a drop 
of water^ shaken on a clover's head 

of purple bloom, near which the sparrows hop 
in glee that they are feathered well, and fed ; 

to Roamers, there, at loving distance — stop I — 
a tear of heaven, a star of holy dread — 
And yet, the best is never seen, or said* 

65 



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H 




6 









O 

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[WILLIAM NORMAN GUTHRIE 



